This belongs to my gg-uncle, Giuseppe Canada. He was raised by my gg-grandmother (his "foster mom"). The father, either biological or adopted, is not on the record. The surname Canada was a fantasy surname. I am hoping that translating this paragraph from the birth record will shed some light on how and/or why he was given to my GG-grandmother to be raised.

It was the informant in the reocrd, la dichiarante (a woman), to whom custody and care of the infant was given. It says that "to the stated infant was imposed the name Giuseppe and the last name Canada. It also says that the objects described above were deposited in this office of the civil state (these records describe everything that is left with the abandoned child-what the child was wrapped in, wearing, whether the infant had a medal or ribbon pinned to its clothes, any identifying marks on its body, etc, . All of these objects were deposited and recorded in the town upon the presentation of the abandoned child at the town hall. The reason for this was that, in those days, there was no DNA, so if the natural parents came back to reclaim the child, they would have to go to a town notary and describe everything that had been left with that child when it was abandoned in order to prove that the child was theirs.

Anyway, it was the person who was the informant in this record (a woman) who had a petition (istanza) asking that she be given custody of the child. Custody was granted to her, as there was no opposition to her request.

Here is the complete birth record. It was listed in Part II of the Atti di Nascita, 1885, from Gallichio, Potenza, Basilicata. The record is in 4 parts -it was the best way to get a good screen shot - sorry.

Rosa was the person who found the male infant on her doorstep at 10 P.M. yesterday-record is dated on the 25th of May 1885, so she found him on the night of the 24th- with all the objects described on page 1 of the record near him. He was about 4 days old. Her house was located at #9 via Bertani (sp?). Rosa was a peasant/farmer, age 47, and was living in Gallicchio. So she was the person who was given custody of the infant.

I should clarify that the record reads that he was of "the apparent age of four days."

With abandoned children, their ages were a guess on the part of the person who discovered them. In many of these records, you will find that the infant appeared to be a day old. This is the first time I have seen a record where the infant appeared to be 4 days old.

Based on what you have seen of the above images (posted on Sept. , and what you have read in the translations that people have offered, is there anything left in the record that gives me more info. of my family or of Giuseppe and his situation?

Again thank you all for your time, energy and help in this matter. It has truly been enlightening and educational. Thank you.

Lou

Researching family surnames are Bernardo/Robilotta from Gallicchio, Basilicata.